Chasing Grey
by swimmerstar415
Summary: Annabeth was sure she was doing the right thing. Her village was going to fade away, but she could never go back to her normal life if she got caught. AU Percabeth.
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOUGE**

The figure stood at the top of the hill waiting on one knee. She knew she had gone too far, but the crime was already committed. She would have to flee leaving her village unprotected. It was the darkest part of the night, and she stayed perfectly still, not wanting to get noticed. In one swift movement her hand shot up in the air and an owl landed gracefully on it and dropped an object into her hand. She smiled gravely and stashed the item in her bag underneath her cloak. "C'mon Grey." She whispered as she turned and took off into the night.

 _IN THE MORNING_

"You will find the thief and bring him to me dead or alive!" the king bellowed.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Chapter 1

ANNABETH

She woke up to her step brothers yelling at each other from down the hallway in their tiny cottage. She lived in a small kingdom with a king, queen, and prince. The king and queen were nice, but hardly paid attention to the village since it was so small on the map.

The village was in a forest not far from the palace walls. It only had about fifty people living there, but the people loved the village for that reason. No one ever really bothered them. Sadly no one knew the financial crisis that was going on either. People were earning the minimum of the minimum, and prices for everything kept going higher and higher. The small village would eventually go bankrupt and no one would notice.

" _Annabeth!_ " Her step mother shouted, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Go to your shop and don't come back home until you've earned at least twenty five drachma."

Annabeth didn't complain, because if she did the step monster would make her work at the tiny bread shop until she got at least four hundred drachma, and that was almost impossible if they sold the bread for one drachma per loaf, which sadly, they did. She grabbed her brown cloak and put it over her commoners dress. She grabbed her coin pouch and dashed out the door, glad to escape the fury of Helen, her step mother. Annabeth's real mother was banished after being caught drawing plans to break into the palace. She never finished so Annabeth never knew what she was planning once she did break in.

As she reached her tiny shop set up in the center of the town, she noticed something unusual. There was a teenage boy with a black cloak covering most of him. He was just slowly walking around and staring at everything with awe. Before she knew what she was doing, she went over to him.

"Hey" she started. "You aren't from around here, are you?" He turned slowly and a small smile appeared on his face.

"How'd you know?" he laughed, slightly uncomfortable.

"Your cape. It's black. No one here has a black cape. They're too expensive." She laughed at his unease. "So what village did you come from?"

"Well that depends, what village is this?" he asked.

"So you aren't from this village obviously, but I didn't think that anyone outside the palace could afford things nice." Annabeth ignored the question, but the mysterious boy still stood his ground.

"Well I live in the village right by the palace, and my father works for the king, so he does get a good income…" he said quickly.

"So you live in the spoiled village? The one where the king and queen get all their servants and then spoil the rest? Yeah I know that village." Annabeth's liking of the boy vanished as she learned of his life. He probably never had to try and provide for his sick father who couldn't afford his medication anymore and was slowly dying from it!

"Whoa what's wrong with it?" He asked, seemingly sincere.

"You have no clue the struggles of this village. We earn less in a day than a single meal costs! The king and queen don't even know this village is slowly dying!" She started to yell, causing some of the vendors at the other shops to send her some disapproving looks. "Do you want bread? I'm selling one loaf for a drachma." She calmed down, walking behind the counter.

"Only one drachma?" He asked amazed. "But-"

"Yeah I know everything is more expensive there." She cut him off. "Now are you going to buy something? Because I have to stay here until I earn twenty five drachma's and you are wasting my time."

"I'll take twenty five loaves please." He smirked and left Annabeth's face awestruck.

"Are you serious? You really don't have to do that-" Annabeth's words caught in her throat. Why did she care if this idiot wasted his money? He was from _that_ village. He had enough money to drown the entire village here.

"I'm very serious. Then you can stay here and earn as much as you wish after that and not have to worry about a goal for today." The boy lifted his head just the slightest bit and she was met with deep sea green eyes. All hatred for this boy was lost as his kind eyes stared at her. "And now, I must get back to the palace before they realize their prince has gone off again. Before I leave, what is your name?" he had whispered this in Annabeth's ear so no one would hear. The question was simple enough, but her words wouldn't come out. This was the _prince!_

"Annabeth." She eventually managed to speak. "Have a nice day Pri-"

"Percy. No formalities here. I'll see you soon Annabeth." And with that, the prince left her stand and waltzed off towards the edge of the village. She wasn't sure what he had meant with 'See you soon' but she was absolutely sure that he was beyond gorgeous. She pocketed the change he had given her, and realized he had given her fifty drachma.

"Wait! You accidentally paid double!" She yelled out, and as he turned he smiled at her, waved, and kept walking.

She ended up selling twenty five more, just so she could give that amount to Helen and spend the money the prince had given her. She set off to go back to her cottage at the edge of the shops.

As she left the shop plaza she went to the path that lead to her house, and found an owl laying on the ground, barely moving. Terrified, she ran up to it and picked it up very gently. Upon further inspection, she realized that the poor creature had a broken foot, so she ran into the shops and got the cheapest cloth she could find. When she got back the owl hadn't moved just as she had hoped. Carefully she wrapped up the foot and carried to owl back to her cottage. She needed a hideout for this bird, because surely her family would kill it and eat it for supper. So instead of taking the path any further, she ventured into the forest.

She hadn't been walking long when she came across a cave. It wasn't that deep so she wouldn't get lost, but it had a curve about thirty feet in that she could easily make a home for the owl, and maybe even herself. She set the owl down on a smooth rock and saw the owl look hungrily at a scurrying object. Sighing, she went and snuck up on the mouse, and grabbed it before the mouse could run.

"I am so sorry little guy." She whispered to the mouse as she walked back over to the owl and held the squirming mouse over the owl. She didn't look as the poor mouse was eaten by the hungry owl. She didn't know how long the owl had been without food and decided she would take care of it.

After spending so much time with the owl she ran back to her cottage and went inside, stopping by Helen to give her twenty five drachma.

"I'm going over to Thalia's. I'll be back." Annabeth said to no one in particular.

"Sure." She heard as she was walking out of the door. She started on the path to Thalia's house, but then quickly ran over to the shops. She went up to the vendor who sold her the cloth earlier, and bought some dark purple velvet cloth, thread, and some needles.

As she was leaving the shops she heard commotion behind her. A man was running from two shop vendors with a bag in his hand. He was running towards her and she knew she had two options: 1. Get out of the way and let the crime be committed, because the two men had already slowed down, or 2. Stop him and run. She liked the second option better since crime happened too much in this poor village. She quickly kicked out in front of her as the man ran by and successfully tripped him. He landed flat on his face as Annabeth took off, since she didn't want publicity at all.

She made it back to the cave in record time, and walked to the spot she left the owl in. What she saw surprised her. The owl was sleeping on a stone that jutted out from the wall five feet above where she had left it, and, to her disgust, mouse carcasses littered the floor.

Now that the owl was mostly healed, she got to admire its beauty. It looked like a snowy owl with beautiful white feathers and grey spots on its wings.

"I'll call you Grey." She whispered quietly as she started sewing the purple fabric together.

 **OoOoOoOOOOOOOOooooOOOOoooooooOOOOO**

 **So… 1600 words later… what did you think? Good? Bad? Leave a review and tell me your thoughts! They are appreciated!**

 **Quothe the raven,**

 **Nevermore**

 **Swimmerstar415**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

ANNABETH

Annabeth had been going to the cave for a few days when Grey had completely healed. Her project with the purple fabric was almost finished, all she had to do was sew the hood. She knew what she was going to do, and honestly it scared her. With what she was planning, she could be executed.

She was finishing the last stich on the hood when Grey screeched and flew back into a corner, scaring the daylights out of Annabeth.

"What was that for?!" She laughed at her owl's funny behavior, and recognized the poor squealing of Grey's lunch in his claws. She tied off the knot and admired her work. The cloak draped from her shoulders and barely touched the ground. The hood was baggy as it laid on her back, but covered her entire face when up.

"Perfect." She smiled as she wore the cloak over her dress, which would have to go. She was planning on taking some of her dad's old commoner's clothes so she wouldn't trip if she had to get out of something easily. She also could be disguised as a man and protect her identity as Annabeth Chase.

She had told Helen she was spending the night at Thalia's house, but she stayed in the cave so she could go out and try something. The sun had just set and she decided that she should sneak in and get the clothes now if she had any hope of being unseen.

Sneaking in was the easy part, sneaking out was harder because Bobby and Matthew were in the way. Annabeth saw them run for their room and she took her chance and dashed out the back door. She didn't stop till she was back in her cave panting and changing into the outfit she snatched.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." She started quietly talking to Grey. "This is absurd. I'm going to be in so much trouble." She had finished putting on the outfit and now examined herself.

The shirt was oversized and hung loosely from her body. The pants weren't as tightfitting either, which she had prepared for both. Annabeth had grabbed two belts just to be sure nothing would fall off of her. The two belts were both different widths. She took the one with the shorter width and secured her pants around her waist. She took the second belt, which was almost twice the width of the first, and wrapped it around her stomach right above her hips. Annabeth thought she looked like one of the pirates in her fairytale books her mother had hidden in her pillow right before she was banished, then laughed at the thought of her being in a fairytale.

"Grey," She called out for her owl and raised her arm up horizontally for him to land on. The two of them had been doing this for a while so she was used to the feeling of his claws on her arm. "Follow." And she lifted her arm up quickly to send Grey up in the trees to follow her from.

~0~

She knew where she was going. She knew this would be the hardest part, the first time. The kingdom was very small compared to their neighboring kingdom, and a person could easily walk from one end to another end of their kingdom in a mere five hours.

As she approached the gates she was invaded with thoughts of how everything could go so wrong if she didn't get this right. She lifted up her arm silently signaling Grey to land.

She walked around the village as quietly as she could, and started looking for their shops. It was probably around midnight, so no one would be awake. Every village basically had the same layout so she knew the general area of the shops and headed in that direction.

When she got to the first shop, she was greeted with an empty counter. Annabeth knew that most people left their shop items either still out or under the counter, she just had to find the right shop.

Her plan was simple enough, she just had to commit to the part. Annabeth would snatch some old items that no one had been selling in a while, (She worked at a shop, she knew how to figure stuff like this out) and sell them for a tall price in an empty shop in the morning. When she sold all of her items she would bring the profits back to her village and divide them evenly between her people. She got the idea from one of her favorite fairytales, Robin Hood. He stole from the rich and gave to the poor, which seemed extremely noble to Annabeth. She had always respected her authority, but neglecting a rundown village seemed to cross the line for her, and she was doing something about it.

She found a shop with fabric unknown to her and decided she would grab some of this person's old pieces. Annabeth shuffled behind the counter and examined the garments. She swiped her forearm over the top of them to find them covered in dust. Delighted, she grabbed four squares of cloth and quickly ran out of the shops and down to a river she had seen as she was making her way into the village.

Annabeth knew she needed to be careful, this was the village beside the palace. That meant their security was high.

When she reached the river she lifted her arm up for Grey and called his name. With a soft flap of his wings he landed on her arm. She set him on the ground by the riverbank and began washing each cloth by hand. As she washed, she admired the patterns that were woven into the fabric. The one she was washing had intricate swirls and dots that came together in a beautiful way. Two other fabrics were solid colors and the last one was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It was a sea blue silky fabric with what looked to be cherry blossom trees stitched in.

She had finished washing all the fabrics and went back to the shops to set up her shop for the morning. She would be posing as a man who was strolling through in the early hours and decided to sell some of his fabrics he had brought from his home village, which was the one farthest from where he was now.

She walked down the road and came upon an empty counter which had a vacant sign on the post holding up the cloth on top. Annabeth set down the fabric, which was now basically dry, and walked around trying to find the normal pricing for this fabric. She figured that if this was the rich village they might have parchment to write things down, but she went back to her counter empty handed.

Annabeth prepared for the morning by tying her hair up in a ponytail and tucked it behind her hood. She also made sure anything that could give her away was concealed. Making sure she looked as much like a guy as she could, she laid down behind her counter and fell asleep.

If only the morning didn't come as quickly.

"You okay sir? We just found you sleeping behind this counter and were wondering if you were hurt or something." A man who looked in his fifties was crouched over her as she opened her eyes to be blinded by sunlight.

"Um, yeah I'm fine, I just came from the town by the edge to sell some of my cloth here and I got in late last night and couldn't afford a room." She lowered her voice to sound more masculine. The man seemed to buy the story and his face lightened.

"So what cloth are you selling?" he asked as Annabeth got up off her makeshift bed and spread out the four fabrics.

"You name a price and I'll see if it's good enough." Annabeth replied.

"I'll give you a solid one hundred drachma's for the green one." Annabeth's eyes almost bugged out of her body.

"Sold." She said as she handed the swirl and dot fabric over to the man. He counted out one hundred drachma in front of her and handed it over.

"Pleasure doing business with you sir." The man said as he walked away.

The rest of the morning went just as well. She sold the solid colored ones for seventy-five drachmas and the blue cherry blossom fabric for one hundred-fifty drachmas. In the end Annabeth had collected four hundred drachmas.

She had placed the vacant sign back on the post and walked as calmly as she could out of the village before breaking into a sprint with a childish grin on her face. She stopped running about five minutes later when she was sure she had gotten a safe distance away. She prayed to the gods that her owl had followed her, but she hadn't signaled him or anything, so she had no clue if he would come when she called. To her surprise, her owl came after about ten seconds of silence.

"Grey!" She pet the owls head and nuzzled his neck. "I missed you." She kept Grey on her arm as she started walking back through the forest the way she came when a large force knocked her over, sending Grey flying up to the trees.

"Oh gods I'm so sorry, I just have to get back bef- wait, Annabeth?" she looked up to see that the force that knocked her down was Prince Percy, and he _recognized_ her. She realized her hair had fallen out and now framed her face.

"What are you doing out of the palace again?" She asked him without looking at his face. This was the man whose parents never helped her village. This man also knows about the problem but has done nothing.

"Well, I was visiting your village again and I was disappointed to find you weren't at your shop. So I was heading back home." He says with a smirk. Annabeth became furious. This man should not be running from the palace just to visit Annabeth. He should be helping his soon to be kingdom grow, but he's just another rude teenage boy looking to get with any girl he sees.

"Excuse me. I have to get to my _dying father_ and sit by his bed, not even able to give him pain killers or _anything._ " She spat at him as she passed by and called her owl back.

"You have an _owl?!_ " Percy said amazed. Annabeth turned around glaring.

"Yes I do, I nursed him back to health and he is not very friendly to strangers." She fibbed the last part, but the prince was getting on her nerves very quickly. He put up his hands in a surrendering motion.

"No need to get feisty, I'm just curious." He had the nerve to laugh, and Annabeth snapped.

"Just go back to your pampered life of people doing everything for you, and I'll go back to my life of doing everything for my family. Goodbye." And with that, she turned on her heels and stomped back to her village. She reached the village in about an hour, and ran to her cave. Grey went up to his perch and began to sleep. Annabeth knew she had a small amount of time before Helen would get suspicious, so she quickly changed into her commoners dress and cloak and hung her other set of clothes on a rock.

Grabbing the drachmas she quickly left the cave and went to the shops. Annabeth calculated how many drachmas each family would receive. She decided on giving five drachmas to each, which would leave her some to help get her father medicine.

~0~

That night, she went around and placed five drachma on every doorstep, including her own. She was overjoyed in the morning to hear the people rejoicing that they could pay for a meal now or that they could get extra clothes. She knew then in that moment she had made the right choice.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

 **That was 2,000 words you guys. I'm getting better at length.**

 **So, did anyone else have that crash on fanfiction on the 11** **th** **? I was trying to see how Chasing Grey was doing and it wouldn't load.**

 **I'd love it if you could tell me how this story is so far.**

 **Thanks allen r and bris38 for reviewing it means the world.**

 **When this chapter goes up I will be at the beach! Yay!**

 **Quoeth the raven,**

 **Nevermore…**

 **Swimmerstar415**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

ANNABETH

Annabeth quickly realized her strategy of selling stolen goods wasn't going to work much longer. People were dumb, just not that dumb. She had decided to take drachma at night from some of the more popular stands, but never more than fifty.

~0~

She went on like this for the next few months, going around and robbing the rich stands of their unneeded profit and delivering to other poorer villages. She was well known throughout the kingdom as 'The Violet Thief'. The daily newsletter would always have reports of stolen items or money from the stands. Her village knew the Violet Thief wasn't stealing just to steal, but still things didn't go well for Annabeth.

 _The Violet Thief is now the number one most wanted criminal in the kingdom, if anyone should see her lurking, just know that there shall be a reward for her capture._

That was the last sentence in the newsletter today. Annabeth knew she wouldn't be safe for long. The guards from the palace went around from village to village, searching for clues to who the thief might be. All Annabeth knew they had come up with was blond hair and blue eyes. Lucky for her, most girls in the kingdom had blond hair and blue eyes.

She hadn't seen Prince Percy since her first trip of selling the fabric. Part of her was extremely glad she didn't have to see the jerk, but the greater part longed for him to just show up and rid the villages of their poverty.

Annabeth was running out of ideas for money. Her wonderful tactic of stealing would only last so long before everyone had already locked their goods in a safe. She ran to her hideout in a fit of anger.

"What am I going to do?!" She yelled to her owl. "Everyone knows about The Violet Thief! They know to lock up everything! The only thing that could be even possible to get at this point would be some of the kings own money!" Realization dawned on her face as she said the sentence. "I have to steal from the king." Annabeth sunk to the floor and sobbed, the reality of the situation hitting her like a ton of bricks.

~0~

Annabeth had been sitting in the cave for over two hours just staring at the walls and the rocks that made them. Particularly one small section that looked a little different than the others. This section had rocks in an archway formation with lighter rocks filling in underneath the arch. Annabeth walked over and pressed her hands firmly on one of the rocks. To her amazement, it shifted just the slightest bit inwards. She then grabbed at the smaller rocks and threw them aside as if digging a tunnel.

After going through about three layers of rock she pulled a large round stone from the middle and tore it away. In its place was a hole leading into a large room that looked untouched for many years. She quickly beat through the remaining rock and light streamed in to the forgotten room. Annabeth looked around her in awe.

She ran over to one side where an old wooden desk was there with a burnt candle. There was a single letter on the desk. Annabeth told herself not to look, that this was all just a dream, but she looked. The letter read:

 _To anyone who may find my old hideout: I have many secrets here, you just have to look around you. My plans were foiled by the stupid prince. He knew me and sold me out when I was trying to help._

 _Never mind that, my situation right now is grave. Their coming for me, I don't have much time anymore._

 _Ten minutes maybe._

 _I'm writing this as a plea to anyone who may find it, if this kingdom still exists. You are being tricked by those you call friends in this small village. They will ruin this profitable town._

 _Five minutes._

 _I hear the cries of angry mobs. I leave this cave to my daughter, if she ever finds it, I hope she will find it useful._

 _My plan is to fill in the tunnel to this room and leave this note on the desk._

 _I have run out of time._

 _Farewell, A. 1703_

The note Annabeth held in her hands was from ten years ago. She was three. The only person she remembers being taken ten years ago… was her own mother. Annabeth shoved the letter back on the desk. She was not going to cry. Instead she looked around the room at the walls. There were papers pinned up on thin strings against the walls and across the ceiling. From what she could see it was a bunch of blueprints. All the ones she could see had a tiny A on the bottom corner, the mark her mother used to put on everything.

Annabeth was having a hard time processing everything. Her mother, who had planned to rob the castle, made a fort out of a cave and left it for her. Annabeth walked over to one blueprint that stood out from the rest. It had a mansion drawn on it, and from what she could tell, the mansion looked to be the castle standing a mere hour's walk away. When she examined other blueprints she realized that every drawing was a part of the castle, she just had to look at them in a certain way.

Her mother let in royalty. That was a mistake Annabeth was not going to make. First, she had to fix up the dreary room. She started by grabbing some of her candles from the other part of the cave and lighting them so she could see the majority of the room. It looked to be very tall and not very wide. Annabeth started thinking of all the drawings she could go through and wasn't even paying attention to any other noises.

"So uh, what's this?" the simple question wasn't answered as Annabeth shrieked and fell from examining some of the higher pictures. The asker saw her fall and ran to catch her. As she looked into his eyes, she realized just who he was.

" _YOU!"_ she slapped him and ran over to the corner. His intimidating green eyes shone bright amidst the dark room.

"Me, what about me?" the prince asked. "I also never got an answer, what is this place?" Annabeth was furious and confused and afraid. She wondered if this is how her mother got in trouble, a meddlesome prince.

"I…You…How did you find me?" she stammered. She had been sure to cover her steps. How had he found her?

"I actually followed you all those days ago. I saw this cave, but didn't have the guts to go talk to you. Now, I realize just what you were doing that day. You are The Violet Thief." His words crushed her. Her very existence seemed to fade. She didn't know what to say. He had just ruined everything she had planned.

"So I guess now you take me away." She choked out. Annabeth had only just found this amazing remnant of her mother, and it was going to be taken from her.

"No." Annabeth saw him watching her every move and started to sob.

"What are you going to do then?" She was getting angry. Angry at him for not taking her away. Angry because she just got in the worst situation possible. And angry at herself, for letting her emotions get the best of her.

"I'm going to help you." His words rang through the cavern room and Annabeth thought she was dreaming.

"But I'm a bad person." She said, confused. "If you get caught helping me, you'll be executed for treason, just like…." She couldn't finish her sentence. Just like her own mother.

Percy sighed and opened his arms. Without thinking, Annabeth flew straight into them. She didn't know why he had this effect on her even after just meeting him twice, but she never wanted to let go. She felt truly loved here. Whereas at her house, she wouldn't even be noticed by Hellen.

"Why do you do this? Why do you steal?" His question made Annabeth cry harder, but she answered.

"Because I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through. Growing up in complete poverty, having their parents hate them, living without a mother…."

Percy hugged her tighter and whispered in her ear "I'll help you if you help me."

Annabeth looked at him "why do you need help?"

"Because I'm engaged to someone I don't want to marry. I need you to help me break the engagement."

"That's your problem? Wow, who knew you have to marry someone, who has enough money might I say, and will be with you forever?" She tore from his arms, suddenly disgusted with him.

"It's not like that. She's a brat with too much money and I want someone who has no money that I can help. Even if the rules say no mixing commoners and royals."

"So you want to pity your wife. You are such a gentleman." The annoyance in her voice was clear.

"Annabeth, can you just listen please?" He wasn't getting angry at all, he was quite patient. However Annabeth was flying off the handle.

"No! You want personal gain! I want to help people!"

"I want to marry you."

"You are a sick, sick person Percy." Annabeth couldn't believe him. Marry her? How? She's a commoner. He's a royal. That doesn't work. As soon as she thought that she realized what she didn't think of first, that she doesn't know him or like him.

"Look, it will be a fake marriage. I'll introduce you as princess of Athens, since their royal family disappeared twelve years ago, then help you get the money you think will get your people out of poverty." Annabeth thought over his idea. It wasn't that bad actually. It just had one flaw.

"If I go with you how am I supposed to keep up the violet thief act? I still have to steal or people will realize its me."

"I'll help you out on the days you normally did steal, but you have to be extra careful."

"If we do this, you swear to me right now you will tell no one the identity of The Violet Thief."

"I swear on my life I will not." She was nervous about how this would end, but she was willing to take the risk to save other people.

"When do you say you should introduce me?" Annabeth asked.

"There's a ball tomorrow night. Go."

"I have nothing to wear…" She realized.

Percy leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "Make a violet dress. For me."

"Okay" she stammered out. And with that, the prince walked out of the cave.

 **I'm so sorry for the delay, I actually lost my computer back in august but I FOUND IT. Well, obviously I found it…**

 **Review if you found the Wicked reference!**

 **Or review anyways…..**

 **Thanks for reading,**

 **Your author,**

 **Swimmerstar415**


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